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MONTREAL, October 24, 2002 – Hercules is proud to announce its two latest and most powerful contributions to the world of 3D gaming: the 3D Prophet 9700 and 3D Prophet 9500 Pro graphics boards, created to transform standard PCs into world-class gaming machines. 3D Prophet 9700 also comes with an incredibly exciting software bundle, including the full retail version of the brand-new, highly-anticipated No One Lives Forever 2: A spy in H.A.R.M.’s way™ – a €52.99 value (suggested retail price, taxes included).

3D Prophet 9700 and 3D Prophet 9500 Pro feature future-proof 3D architecture, enabling full hardware acceleration of the latest APIs (Application Program Interfaces) – Microsoft’s DirectX® 9 and OpenGL® – for a new level of realism in current and future games. The boards build on ATI’s most recent 3D innovations (SMARTSHADER™ 2.0 with programmable Pixel Shaders 2.0 & Vertex Shaders 2.0, TRUFORM™ 2.0 and DirectX®9 Displacement Mapping), employing SMOOTHVISION™ 2.0 technology for 2X/4X/8X/16X anisotropic filtering and 2X/4X/6X FSAA mode. The end result is perfect image quality with no graphics artifacts whatsoever.

“This launch of two new high-end 3D Prophet boards reaffirms Hercules’ commitment to producing the best customized graphics accelerators on the market, employing ATI technology”, says Christine Foucault at Hercules. “As the number of hardcore gamers continues to grow exponentially, new games are naturally making use of all the latest 3D features available, and to experience these innovations in all their glory, PCs must be updated with the right equipment. Hercules’ continuing mission is to offer gamers the very best 3D technology combined with industry-leading, dependable designs and manufacturing standards for maximum processing power.“

In this spirit, 3D Prophet 9700 and 3D Prophet 9500 Pro deliver unparalleled performance, generating extremely high framerates with optimal fluidity in geometrically and texture-heavy games. Plus, thanks to CATALYST™ drivers, gamers can look forward to stable, high-speed performance with regular updates and improvements.

3D Prophet 9700 is based on ATI RADEON™ 9700 architecture, featuring:
8-pixel pipeline architecture, clocked at 275MHz
Microsoft® DirectX®9 hardware acceleration, processed by 8 Pixel Shader engines and 4 Vertex Shader engines
An impressive 256-bit DDR memory interface, optimized by ATI HyperZ™III intelligent memory bandwidth-saving technology.


3D Prophet 9700 is ideal for hardcore First Person Shooter gamers. It offers unsurpassed stability even at the highest clock speeds, thanks to a unique copper-base cooling fan and complete heatsink coverage (RAM and back of the CPU). Copper’s high thermal conductivity ensures phenomenal heat dissipation and acceleration potential. On the other hand, Hercules’ silent fan (<28 dB) delivers the performance needed to keep things cool, without being distracting. 3D Prophet 9700 also comes with an exciting software bundle, including the full retail version of the recently released No One Lives Forever 2: A spy in H.A.R.M.’s way™. This time around, we find Cate Atcher, the sexiest spy in video game history, battling her sworn enemies in the international H.A.R.M. syndicate and a horrific project that could bring about a third World War. Widely considered one of the best Quake-like First Person Shooters, No One Lives Forever 2 combines exceptional playability with caustic humor (tons of wild new weapons to discover), as well as highly impressive fluidity and graphics quality.

3D Prophet 9500 Pro is based on ATI RADEON™ 9500 PRO architecture: it has the same specifications as 3D Prophet 9700, including 8 rendering pipelines, but features a 128-bit DDR interface.

Both 3D Prophet 9700 and 3D Prophet 9500 Pro provide cutting-edge video and multimedia support, thanks to advanced hardware technology and PowerDVD 4.0XP, which also comes bundled with the boards. Separate VGA, DVI-I and TV outputs, combined with VIDEOSHADER™ technology, enable enhanced DVD playback on CRT and flat panel monitors or a TV set. Moreover, FULLSTREAM™ features provide superior Internet video streaming, while HYDRAVISION™ allows for easy dual-screen display on any combination of outputs.

Availability:
3D Prophet 9700 will be available from the end of November 2002 at a recommended retail price of €399 (incl. VAT).

3D Prophet 9500 Pro will be available from the end of December 2002 at a recommended retail price of €299 (incl. VAT).

About Hercules Technologies
Founded in the United States in 1982, Hercules developed the industry’s first high-resolution graphics boards for PCs. Having set the monochrome graphics standard, Hercules then proceeded to pioneer advances in color graphics solutions. Over the years, Hercules has constantly sought to evolve, providing innovative lines of graphics, video and audio products, geared principally towards the international gaming community. Hercules has been a division of the Guillemot Corporation group since 1999.

About Guillemot Corporation
Guillemot Corporation designs and manufactures a complete range of PC hardware products and PC and gaming console accessories. With an active presence in 17 countries, the group currently distributes its products in a total of 45 countries worldwide. Guillemot Corporation is listed on the Paris Stock exchange, Sicovam code 6672.